This invention relates to an improved marking stylus for use with tabulating or voting devices and the like.
In voting devices, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,201,038, a tabulation sheet is placed under a rigid upper plate having a series of holes which are aligned with perforated punch out areas on the tabulation sheet. The selection of a particular punch out area for the purpose of tabulating a "vote" is accomplished by insertion of a stylus through the appropriate upper plate hole and through the tabulation sheet. In stylus devices heretofore provided, a problem arose of inadvertent breakage of the stylus tips when in use. Most breakage occurred when the stylus was improperly bent to one side with its tip portion within a marking hole of the voting device.
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an improved stylus for punch-through tabulating devices that has increased strength and flexibility and cannot be broken even when misused by exerting side loads on the stylus handle with its pin portion restrained within the hole of a tabulating device.
Another object of the invention is to provide a punching stylus for tabulating devices and the like that is particularly well adapted for ease and economy of manufacture.